46 ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX. 



yi 6 dara, lie will he good ^ oyig dor), honey is sweet • igi nld, the tree is large. Like 

 other verbs, they sometimes take the auxiliary particle ' ni ' ; as, Aina ni dara, 

 Aina is good ; Aina ni yi 6 dara, Aina will he good. 



2. By compound verbs, formed by prefixing ni or li, to have, or ^e, to 

 he, to nouns; as, Aina lagbara (li agbara, has strength').^ Aina is strong ; iwo 

 khma, {he enia, art a person)., thou art Tcind; 6 sble (se ole, is a lazy one)., he is 

 lazy. 



§ 206. The office of qualificative adjectives, i. e. of adjectives wbicli are attached 

 to a noun to indicate quality, is performed : 



1. By abstract nouns placed after the nouns which they qualify. These are 

 either : 



a. Abstract nouns formed by reduplication from the simple neuter verbs which 

 are employed as predicative adjectives; as, ohuq didara (thing of goodness)., a 

 good thing ; oyir) didSq (honey of s^veetness), sweet honey , igi nldnla (tree of 

 largeness)., a large tree. 



b. Primitive abstract nouns ; as, baqga 6ke (room "of wpperness)., art, upper 

 room ; enia agbara, a person of strength., or a strong man ; ise wahala (work of 

 trouble)., a troublesome worTc. 



2. By concrete nouns placed in apposition before the noun they qualify ; as, 

 alagbaraenia (strong-one person)., a strongman • otosi 6biri (miserable-one woman)., 

 a miserable or wretched woman • okp6 6biri (widow woman)., a vndow. 



3. By the relative pronoun ti, who., which., and a verb ; as, oyiq ti o doq (honey 

 which it is-sweet)., sweet honey ; ida ti o mu (sword which it is-sha?p), a sharp 

 sword; igi ti o ^e (stich ivhich it is-hroheii)., a broken stick. 



4. In a very few instances, by a simple neuter verb ; as, mo ri obo nld, / saw a 

 large baboon ; enia rh li o 6e § (person is-good it-is that did it)., a good person 

 did it. 



Comparison. 



§ 207. Higher degrees of quality, answering somewhat to our comparative., are 

 indicated by the addition of words which perform the office of adverbs. 



1. The word most commonly employed for this purpose is d^ii, surpassing., 

 exceeding., very ; as, 6 dara d^ii (it is-good exceeding), it is very good., it is better. 

 L6h, to go, is frequently employed pleonastically after d^u ; as, 6 dara diu 16h ; 

 but this adds nothing to the sense. 



2. A form of expression equivalent to a comparative is made, when only one 

 term of the comparison is given, by adding si i, to it, i. e. in addition, more ; as, 6 

 dara si i (it is-good more), it is better. 



3. More than is expressed simply by d^ii, or di;u 16h ; as, isubu roroq d^ii idide, 

 or d^u \^\^^\()\i, falling is easier than ris^ing ; 6 ye fu ni ki k 6ise di^u ki d ^e oto- 

 6i, it is proper for us that we labor rather than that toe be poor. 



§ 208. The highest degree, or superlative, may be expressed: 



1. By dill gbogbo, or di:u gbogbo loh, surpassing all; as, eyi dara diii gbogbo 

 16h (this is-good surpassing all away), this is the best. 



2. By tdq, completed, perfected, placed after the adjective; as, 6 dara tdq (it is- 

 good perfectly), it is best. 



